Background

Background

The World of Progress

Although the World of Progress is vast, spanning thousands of planets, the players will spend the majority of their time on the SLA capitol of Mort, in the planet's capitol city by the same name. The galaxy at large is a wide and varied place though that influences life even on the back streets of Mort City. Space travel is achieved by Ebon navigated Foldships or Ion-driven capitol ships, both of which are not restricted to SLA industries - Soft Companies and pirates also operate spacecraft and will occasionally attack SLA shipping if the opportunity arises.

Mort

The planet Mort is the flawed jewel in SLA's crown. The giant planet consists mostly of desolate wastelands and dead oceans, scoured by industry and pollution. Giant atmospheric processors keep the planet habitable, and weather control systems keep the cities safe from the worst of Mort's environment. Even so, rain falls on the cities of Mort constantly.

Polo

Polo is the frozen planet from which the Wraith Raiders originate. Its chilly environment appears hostile to humans, but Wraiths and the planet's flora and fauna are tough and well adapted. Survival is by no means easy on Polo, which is why the Wraith Raiders have evolved into such a hardy species, and much of the wildlife that shares the planet is equally dangerous.

War Worlds

Certain planets hold rare phenomenon or resources, or a vital strategic location, and become so heavily fought over by SLA and other companies that war envelops its entirety. Often the thing that was being fought over is destroyed in the process, but more often than not the war rages on regardless. War Worlds such as Dante, Cross and Charlie's Point have been fought over for so long that the average life of a soldier is measured in minutes, and the few who survive their tours are generally tough, dangerous and utterly insane.

Soft Companies

While SLA Industries maintains an iron grip on the world of progress, there are many pretenders to the throne. Rival companies, known by SLA as Soft Companies, work tirelessly to undermine SLA and bring about its downfall. From sprawling subversive organizations, to elite high-tech paramilitaries, to small back-street industries, the enemies of SLA are many and various.

DarkNight

DarkNight are by far the largest of the Soft Companies, and the biggest thorn in SLA's side. They fight SLA in open ground on the War Worlds, battling on planetary scales with huge armies. They own their own spacecraft with which to harass SLA shipping. They produce vast amounts of hardware and their planets home billions of people. Even so, they are small in comparison to SLA and survive mainly by stealth and concealment. To the average SLA citizen, DarkNight are a terrorist organization. They live in the cities, spying and subverting. They supply the illegal weapons and drugs and control the black markets. Rarely will DarkNight operate in the open on Mort, preferring guerrilla tactics and media subversion. SLA Operatives will encounter DarkNight Operatives and agents most often of the Soft Companies, but often the first they know of the encounter is from the impact of a sniper's bullet.

Thresher

Smaller in number than DarkNight, but more direct. The Thresher have powerful weapons and armour that make them difficult to stop, even by SLA's troops. Operatives stand little chance faced with their giant armoured suits and chainguns. Luckily they are rarely seen on Mort, and when they do they prefer hit-and-fade tactics.

Tek Trex

Tek Trex are a Soft Company that specialize in robotics. While robotics and cybernetics died off after the Chrome Age, Tek trex have continued to make security and attack robots for sale on the black market. These robots are often thought of as comical - at less than a meter tall and with a sort of round body and waddling gait they often appear so. They also sport light SMGs though, and are usually deployed in large numbers.

SLA Industries

Mort City

The capitol city of SLA Industries takes the name of the planet it dwells on, visible from space like a great black scar. Covering 76,000 square kilometers of the surface and stretching deep into the earth and high into the atmosphere, Mort is the largest city in the World of Progress.

Central

SLA Headquarters sits directly in the middle of Mort in the Central sector, a great glass pyramid with its upper floors masked by cloud. Around it, open to the sky and the as yet untainted rain, are the shining tower blocks of SLA's bureaucratic heart. It rises from ground level, or thereabouts, from around Central for kilometers into the sky, its skyline made up of every type of architecture from the World of Progress. Central is possibly the most secure public area in the World of Progress, constantly patrolled by Shivers and Dark Finders and surrounded by a patrolled wall with a strict entrance policy.

Uptown

Uptown is the district of Mort that is home to the elite, the rich and the powerful. Secure, disturbingly clean (especially to Ops who have grown up in downtown) and consisting almost entirely of square, grey tower blocks. Most Ops tend to live in Uptown, more often than not in specially designed apartment blocks with armed guards to deter assassins and hardened secure cabinets in the apartments for weapons and equipment. Having Ops segregated also benefits the other residents of Uptown, keeping them safe from both the enemies that Ops attract and the often violent and unstable Ops themselves. Most uptown residents know the locations of nearby Brain Waster blocks or Frother clan buildings and avoid them.

Suburbia

While not as safe as Uptown, Suburbia is still by far one of the better places to live in Mort. Most SLA employees live here and life there is generally clean and safe. To keep the streets of the better areas of Mort free from scum and crime, there is a wall surrounding the area that prevents undesirables entering. The wall in theory extends under the district to prevent access from the area of Downtown that resides beneath it, although it is more of a metaphorical wall here, consisting of security doors, thick grilles and vents, and sealed alleyways. It is through the belly of Suburbia that the criminals, subversives and serial killers infiltrate into the heart of SLA industries, as the security is grossly under-funded. Suburbia's stretched security services and sprawling population of employees has created many problems, from abundant serial killers to bored gangs of juveniles.

Upper Downtown

Upper Downtown is where the majority of Mort's population live, and where most of an Operative's BPNs will take them.